Key points
The food industry is evolving at a quick pace. With a genuine desire to learn from data-driven trends, Eurofins is at the helm – advocating for businesses reliant on food safety and due diligence testing programmes to take full advantage of these opportunities in order to further strengthen the sector.
But this is just the start. Mark Carnaghan, Managing Director of Eurofins Food and Water Testing UK shares his thoughts on why using data to highlight sectoral trends and emerging risks for customers could revolutionise the industry and provide multiple possibilities to improve standards. Plus, he discusses what’s currently being done across the industry and at Eurofins to help tackle some of the issues that many businesses currently face.
“Regardless of the sector you work in, data is one of the most powerful commodities. For the food industry, data can assist in multiple ways – from supplier control and vulnerability assessment, to HACCP and brand protection. It’s a revolution that is finally being understood and utilised for the genuine power and possibilities it holds. That said, this progression doesn’t come without challenge, and so more must be done throughout the sector to make this a more streamlined, accessible, and efficient process.”
Current Challenges
“Collating, organising, and utilising data to assist with food microbiology testing is a key focus for the industry, as experts understand how this will enhance processes and procedures, and allow us to work more collaboratively.”
“Currently, we believe there are two major challenges with regards to data – firstly, the limitations of traditional food microbiology and the information that can be retrieved from this type of testing. Secondly, the challenges associated with interpreting large amounts of data to find trends, improvements, and opportunities.”
- Limitations of Traditional Food Microbiology
“While traditional food microbiology methods can provide data to help processors with understanding how they’re controlling common food contaminating bacteria, they do not tell the full story. As Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) becomes more readily available, we’re already starting to use it in projects to identify the presence and abundance of all bacteria species in samples.”
“With this additional information and tracking back through the end-to-end process, it’s possible to see where growth of certain populations is stemming from, what their impacts are, and how they can be limited to reduce spoilage and pathogenic activity as a whole. As a result, we can use this to improve quality, shelf life, and ultimately, profit potential for food processors.”
“Despite having the potential to enhance the way we do business, better support the supply chain, and maintain safety standards for customers, it can be costly. That said, for businesses with the right base indicator data, there is real merit in considering expanding on this with deeper analysis using metagenomics/WGS. The result? Delivery of even more targeted projects with clear aims that help to improve knowledge and drive further positive action.”
- Managing and Interpreting Large Amounts of Data
“For large businesses with multiple sites, lines, processes, and equipment, there’s naturally more data to work with which allows them to differentiate performance and identify common trends. However, even this is also dependent on the effectiveness of their testing dashboards which, for many, can still be very slow and cumbersome. “
“Smaller businesses with just one site or fewer processes have less comparative data available, making it harder for them to draw out trends from their environmental and product testing programmes. Consequently, it means that many are at a disadvantage from not being able to learn as quickly, spot trends early enough, or compare performance with their peers.”
“Many professional consultancies often draw conclusions based on their own knowledge as opposed to directly incorporating and analysing data, making their value limited and heavily dependent on what they’ve experienced throughout their career.”
What could be done with the data?
“In order to holistically harness the power of this data, we need to collaborate and find ways to collate, store, display and interpret it so that it can be properly analysed and spark debate. The effectiveness of this is intrinsically linked to the following requirements:”
- Creating Clean Data
Data can often be ‘dirty’ and become messy simply due to the sample categorisation, as well as the different sample naming conventions, the types of tests being carried out, and the consistency in recording information. Standardising the samples/test input information going forwards alongside cleansing historical data can really help to create a ‘clean’ data baseline. Once extracted in this way, it becomes much more accessible so it can be carefully codified to form part of an in-depth database.
- Asking the Right Questions
With this organised data, it’s then available to be viewed and analysed – experts can ask the right questions, draw conclusions, and spot anomalies to create accurate insights that can appear in tailored customer dashboards. It must be formatted in easy-to-digest ways to ensure it’s accessible for all and can then be used effectively and productively by anybody.
- Creating Knowledge
The final step is then transforming this information into knowledge. Working alongside industry experts, trends can be interpreted, and meaningful conclusions can be drawn, allowing technical managers to take the right action in the right situation – and feel confident in their decisions.
“If executed well, it could provide huge benefits for businesses of all sizes by providing an opportunity to view, monitor, and pinpoint trends across sites and common ingredients, helping them to react, adapt, and respond with greater ease than ever before.”
“Plus, they’ll help to aid the risk-based assessments and due diligence activities which are becoming ever more important in an overarching strategy, and can be monitored against actual performance to assist in tailoring future testing plans. Performance indicators and flags will be raised if any processes are slipping – before they become a real issue.”
How would it benefit the industry as a whole?
“The opportunities are endless. Having access to this data from a multitude of organisations across the sector would be revolutionary in terms of what we know, and how we can use this information.”
“When compared and contrasted with others – within the local area, as well as on a national and global scale – we could provide targeted insights by industry sector, for example: fish processing, dry ingredients, poultry. It also becomes anonymised, backed up with professional and holistic insight and advice.”
“The final part of the jigsaw is to then augment this data with external environmental factors – linking to product recalls, weather events affecting primary ingredient yields, and the quality of these ingredients. Again, all of which will significantly enhance the way we as an industry operate.”
What is Eurofins doing to tackle the challenges?
“We’re proud to be at the forefront of this agenda. Not only are we advocating for businesses across the industry to harness their data for their own benefit, but we’re helping to provide the insight behind the data to drive positive action.”
“Working in real partnership, we can absolutely improve our knowledge and understanding of food testing. But we’re ready to take it so much further. It’s our sincere hope that other businesses across the industry will recognise the potential of better collecting, storing and analysing of data and want to join us on our mission to raise the bar even higher – for the benefit of individual businesses, industry sectors and, most importantly, consumers.”
What could the future hold?
“Looking long-term, metagenomics and WGS is likely to play an even more prominent role, going above and beyond the capabilities of traditional food microbiology testing to provide data that has multiple layers of depth. Industry professionals will then be able to connect the dots from data across the globe, from an array of businesses, as well as linking to external environmental factors, including product recalls and weather events.”
“In turn, this should create an informed dataset, enabling the effectiveness of due diligence programmes to be maximised, and the industry as a whole to benefit greatly from collaborative working and sharing of information. All of which can (and we hope will) establish a much better platform for businesses to work from, and a more reliable and safer sector which customers can wholeheartedly trust.”
For further information, contact: food-water@uk1.eurofins-info.com
